INDIANAPOLIS 
T.J. Ford hit the go-ahead jumper with 3.9 seconds left, and the Indiana Pacers beat the Chicago Bulls 107-105 on Tuesday night to tighten the race for the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference.

Chicago had a chance to tie or win, but Ben Gordon missed a long shot that was signaled as a 3-pointer in the closing seconds.

Ford finished with 22 points and nine assists. Danny Granger led the Pacers with 31 points, while Troy Murphy had 15 points and 12 rebounds after missing the previous three games with a strained medial collateral ligament in his left knee.

Indiana won for the fourth time in five games and is 3 1/2 games behind Chicago with seven games left.

Chicago led 103-100 and could have been up by more, but didn't take advantage and failed to score on its next three possessions. Granger scored on a putback to make it 103-102, then the Pacers forced Chicago into a shot clock violation.

Indiana worked the ball to Granger again, and he drained a 3-pointer with 43 seconds left to give Indiana its first lead of the quarter.

Gordon responded with a fallaway jumper from the free-throw line to tie the score with 38 seconds left.

Indiana worked for a shot, and Murphy missed, but the ball went out of bounds off a Chicago player, giving the Pacers a new 24-second clock with 26 seconds to play.

Ford worked the shot clock down, then drove left against Rose before hitting the fadeaway.

The Bulls led 52-50 at halftime, but the Pacers opened the half with a flurry that included a 3-pointer and a reverse dunk by Murphy to take a 59-54 lead with just over 8 minutes left in the quarter.

Chicago rallied, and back-to-back 3-pointers by Tim Thomas and Hinrich gave the Bulls a 69-63 lead.

Josh McRoberts' two-handed baseline jam in the final second of the third quarter cut Chicago's advantage to 79-76.

A two-handed dunk and a layup by Tyrus Thomas increased Chicago's lead to 85-78. Indiana rallied again, and a 3-pointer by Granger trimmed the Bulls' lead to 87-85 and caused Chicago to call a timeout.

Chicago responded with a 12-6 run during which four different Bulls scored to take a 99-91 lead.

Notes@: Granger and Hinrich collided in the opening minutes of the game, and both left the game. They both returned late in the quarter with stitches, Granger's over his left eye and Hinrich's over his right. ... Indiana's Marquis Daniels sat out with a sprained right wrist. ... McRoberts tied a career high with 10 points.